It was one of those years in which the province seemed to go from one economic crisis to another, with plenty of government money being spent in an effort to stem the tide.

It started with a crisis in the forestry. When the former owner of the NewPage Port Hawkesbury mill pushed the Nova Scotia operation into bankruptcy in 2011, before declaring bankruptcy itself, it started a chain reaction.

The fallout disrupted the lives of hundreds of people who relied on that paper mill for their livelihood and shook the provincial economy to its roots.

Stern Partners of Vancouver, through its subsidiary Pacific Western Commercial, eventually agreed to resume papermaking at the Strait of Canso mill, renaming it Port Hawkesbury Paper LLC, but not before major restructuring.

The road to reviving the plant wasn’t a smooth one. The new owner actually walked away from a deal to acquire the mill at the last minute, before finally reconsidering.

Pacific Western paid about $30 million for the facility but it declined to accept responsibility for the underfunded pensions.

It also closed the newsprint mill, renegotiated tough new work rules, negotiated a favourable power rate, and obtained a $124.5-million aid package from the provincial government, much of it in the form of “forgivable loans.”

Production at the Point Tupper mill started again in October, but the fate of another Nova Scotia paper mill didn’t end as happily.

Premier Darrell Dexter thought he could save the ancient Bowater Mersey newsprint operation in Brooklyn, Queens County, after the owner of that mill also announced a shutdown.

In May, the premier announced a $50-million deal with Resolute Forest Products Inc. to keep Bowater operating, including a $25-million, five-year capital loan and a $1.5-million grant. The provincial government also agreed to buy 10,000 hectares of forest land for $23.75 million.

In June, however, Resolute reconsidered its decision and pulled the plug, which had the government searching for another solution. In December, the government said it would pay Resolute $535 a hectare for about 220,000 hectares of woodlands, with the hope that it could recover the purchase price through stumpage fees.

The Dexter government also bought the former Bowater mill site, which it plans to turn into an innovation park for research and development of new uses for forest material.

The Brooklyn biomass power plant, which burned wood scraps from the paper mill, was acquired by Emera Inc. in a deal. The related Oak Hill sawmill was not acquired by the province and just this week Resolute announced it would not reopen.

While 2012 could be described as a year of the Nova Scotia forest, especially as the government tries to pump up enthusiasm for forest products through an ad campaign, other things were happening, too.

In the offshore sector, the start of production from Encana Corp.’s Deep Panuke natural gas project was delayed and ExxonMobil’s Sable gas project has been in decline throughout the year.

But in 2012, it was revealed that Shell Canada and British Petroleum are willing to spend more than $2 billion combined for the right to explore for oil and gas over the next several years.

The Nova Scotia government is supporting the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric power project planned for Labrador.

Some of that Muskrat Falls power will eventually be coming to Nova Scotia via a $1.2-billion subsea cable, dubbed the Maritime Link, to be built between Newfoundland and Cape Breton by Nova Scotia Power.

The hydroelectric project would cost in excess of $7 billion, which is considered by some to be too costly, and the fear is that Nova Scotia ratepayers will be required to pay a high price once electricity becomes available.

While most had been expecting Irving Shipbuilding Inc. to start work on new combat ships for the Canadian navy right away, it became clear in 2012 that negotiating a contract to build the first vessels in the planned $25-billion, 30-year project is more difficult than expected.

Irving had been planning all along to begin cutting steel for the first ship in 2013, but that may be delayed now, especially since Steve Durrell, president of Irving Shipbuilding, resigned late in the year.

Meanwhile, excavation for the $500-million Nova Centre in downtown Halifax, future home of a new convention centre, finally started in 2012. It was just one of several construction projects to start during the year, marking a turnaround in building activity in the downtown.

What could be coming in 2013?

There is the oil and gas exploration offshore, more construction in Halifax, the possibility of a new Yarmouth ferry and possibly the first container shipping line to commit to the proposed Maher Melford Terminal, planned for Guysborough County.

Topping the list for 2013, however, is the likelihood of a provincial election, and in Nova Scotia, politics plays a major role in economic activity.